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5 Burning Cannabis Questions Answered For British Columbians

With October 17, 2018, just around the corner, many Canadians are counting down the days to legalization. It won’t be long before we will be able to purchase legal, recreational cannabis for the first time.

But many of us are still asking some important, practical questions about how exactly that will happen.

This blog will attempt to address those burning questions and provide a little bit of clarity about what you can expect in British Columbia — and how you can purchase legal cannabis — on October 17, 2018.

Where will I be able to purchase legal, recreational cannabis?

Don’t expect new cannabis stores to pop up overnight… or even within the year.

The licensing process takes an extraordinary amount of time, with multiple levels of government to satisfy prior to obtaining the proper permits required to sell legal cannabis.

While there are more than one hundred private store applications currently being processed by the provincial government, the vast majority of them will remain unprocessed on October 17, 2018. Even after they are, though, local governments will have to vet them prior to allowing stores to be built, stocked or staffed to open.

Given the onerous realities of licensing, it doesn’t seem like any legal stores will be ready to open their doors in the Lower Mainland when legalization occurs. Most stores will take at least eighteen months to reach the approval stage before they are given the all-clear to operate.

How much cannabis can I have?

Because possession limits in the Cannabis Act are based on dried cannabis, equivalents were developed for other cannabis products in order to identify what their possession limit would be. Under this scheme, one gram of dried cannabis is equal to:

5 grams of fresh cannabis

15 grams of edible product

70 grams of liquid concentrate

0.25 grams of concentrates (solid or liquid)

1 cannabis seed

Keep in mind that there will be a new Criminal Code offense for possessing cannabis over the legal limit. If you only have a small amount over the limit, you could end up with a ticket, but larger amounts could result in much harsher penalties including jail time — so watch out.

Elizabeth Richey, MD

Elizabeth Richey, MD
Elizabeth Richey is an author, and student who approves articles and then published them on our website to the MJN viewership.
Her qualifications include a degree in international policy and medicine.
Always refer to a qualified doctor before using marijuana to treat an ailment.